LOCATION KNICKERBOCKER NYEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Sandy, mixed, mesic Typic Dystrudepts
TYPICAL PEDON: Knickerbocker fine sandy loam on a 2 percent slope in a hayfield. (Colors refer to moist soil unless otherwise noted).
Ap-- 0 to 12 inches; dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist, pale brown (10YR 6/3) dry, fine sandy loam; moderate fine granular structure; very friable; many fine and common medium roots; moderately acid; abrupt smooth boundary. (6 to 15 inches thick.)
Bw1-- 12 to 20 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) fine sandy loam; very weak medium subangular blocky structure parting to weak fine granular; very friable; common fine and medium roots; common medium pores; 10 percent rock fragments; faint discontinuous clay bridging; strongly acid; abrupt wavy boundary.
Bw2-- 20 to 35 inches; dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4) loamy fine sand; very weak, coarse subangular blocky structure; very friable; common medium and fine pores; 10 percent rock fragments; moderately acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (Combined thickness of the Bw horizon 12 to 30 inches.)
C1-- 35 to 53 inches; olive brown (2.5Y 4/4) loamy fine sand; single grain; very friable; many medium and fine pores; 5 percent rock fragments; common medium dark brown (10YR 3/3) stains; few pockets of very dark grayish brown (10YR 3/2) sand; moderately acid; abrupt wavy boundary. (0 to 24 inches thick.)
C2-- 53 to 72 inches; dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) fine sand; common medium and large distinct dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) and brown (7.5YR 4/4) stains; single grain; loose; few nodular iron concretions; strongly acid.
TYPE LOCATION: Columbia County, New York. Town of Stuyvesant. 1,100 feet east of south intersection of Sunnyside Road and U.S. Route 9, 144 feet south of Sunnyside Road and 441 feet west of powerline. USGS Stottville, NY topographic quadrangle, Latitude 42 degrees, 22 minutes, 29 seconds N. and Longitude 73 degrees, 43 minutes, 45 seconds W. NAD 1927.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The thickness of the solum ranges from 25 to 44 inches. Rock fragments, mainly gravel, range from 0 to 15 percent in the solum and from 0 to 30 percent in substratum. Unless limed, reaction of the soil ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid.
The Ap horizon has hue of 7.5YR or 10YR, value of 3 or 4, and chroma of 2 through 4. Unplowed areas have thin A horizons with value of 2 or 3, and chroma of 1 or 2. Texture is fine sandy loam or sandy loam. It has weak or moderate, fine or medium granular structure. Consistence is friable or very friable.
The B horizon has hue of 7.5YR through 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 3 through 6. Texture is fine sandy loam or sandy loam above depths of 20 inches and loamy fine sand or loamy sand below. The dominant sand size is fine sand. Structure is weak or very weak subangular blocky or granular. Consistence is friable or very friable. Some pedons have an AB or BA horizon above the B horizon.
The C horizon has hue of 10YR or 2.5Y, value of 3 through 5, and chroma of 2 through 4. Some pedons have redoximorphic concentrations below 40 inches. Texture ranges from loamy fine sand to sand in the fine earth fraction. Some pedons have a 2C horizon.
COMPETING SERIES: The Hartford and Merrimac series are in the same family. Hartford soils are 5YR or redder in the B and 2C horizons and contain more than 35 percent rock fragments in the 2C horizon. Merrimac soils generally contain more rock fragments in the solum and more than 30 percent rock fragments in the 2C horizon.
Similar soils in related families are the Agawam, Hoosic, Riverhead and Windsor series. Agawam soils have a coarse-loamy over sandy or sandy-skeletal particle size class. Hoosic soils are sandy-skeletal. Riverhead soils are coarse-loamy with sandy loam or fine sandy loam mantles at least 24 inches thick. Windsor soils are loamy fine sand or coarser throughout.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Knickerbocker soils are nearly level to steep soils on lake plains and terraces. These soils formed in stratified sandy deltaic or fluvial deposits. Slope ranges from 0 to 35 percent. Mean annual air temperature ranges from 45 to 51 degrees F.; mean annual precipitation ranges from 32 to 42 inches and the frost-free season ranges from 130 to 190 days. The elevation ranges from 100 to 800 feet above sea level.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Castile, Elmridge, Elnora and Walpole soils and the competing Hoosic, Riverhead and Windsor soils. Castile soils are moderately well drained and contain more rock fragments throughout. Elmridge soils are moderately well drained and are underlain by clayey deposits. Elnora soils are moderately well drained and sandy throughout. Walpole soils are somewhat poorly drained to poorly drained and they occur in low-lying wetter areas.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well or somewhat excessively drained. The potential for surface runoff is low to high. Permeability is moderately rapid in the upper part of the solum and moderately rapid to very rapid in the lower part of the solum and substratum.
USE AND VEGETATION: Most areas have been cleared and are used for orchard, corn, potatoes, hay or vegetable crops. Steep areas are idle or wooded. Woodlots contain sugar maple, oak and hickory.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Eastern New York in the Hudson River Valley. The series is of small extent.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Amherst, Massachusetts
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Columbia County, New York, 1985.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and other features recognize in the typical pedon are as follows:
(1) Ochric Epipedon - the zone from the surface to 12 inches (Ap horizon).
(2) Cambic horizon - the zone from 12 to 20 inches (Bw1 horizon).
(3) Dystrudepts, great group - cambic horizon and base saturation less than 60 percent between depths of 10 and 30 inches.
Soil Interpretation Record NY0304.